At this meeting, three ordinances are up for a third reading and probable council vote:

an ordinance for the levy a new five-eighths cent sales and use tax for seven years;

an ordinance to put a proposed five-eighths cent sales tax up for vote in a special election to be held in June of 2017;

an ordinance to amend Article IV of Part 12 of the code on Health and Welfare to include electronic cigarettes in the definition of smoking devices.

The proposed sales tax is one of several recommendations that came from Go Forward Pine Bluff, the non-profit task force created by the Simmons Foundation, and that have been discussed at recent city council meetings. Over the last several weeks, the council has been considering the sales tax proposal in three related but separate ordinances: the two above and a third that will designate how the resulting tax revenue would be doled out. The third one will be addressed this Monday in a resolution on the city’s intent for using the new tax revenue if the tax is passed.

Monday’s meeting will also include first readings on two other proposed ordinances:

an ordinance to repeal a recently passed ordinance (#6565) that waived competitive bidding for police vehicles in order to allow acquistion from two local dealerships;

an ordinance to provide for issuance and sale of library construction bonds and also to apply library tax revenues and special tax collections to pay the principal and interest of those bonds; (essentially, an ordinance for the city to begin to carry out its role for the new library).

Acknowledgement: Thank you to Alderman Steven Mays for providing a copy of the agenda that informed this announcement.

Additional Information: Pine Bluff’s City Council meets on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of each month except for holidays, inclement weather, or other extenuating circumstances such as a called meeting.

The city’s website includes one webpage with contact information for the mayor and other elected officials in city hall, including the city clerk, and another for the departments run by those elected city hall officials. The website has a page for council members as well.

The city clerk maintains records of ordinances and resolutions passed plus tapes and minutes of council meetings (and other board and commission proceedings). City council agendas can be found online, all the way to the most recent meeting of March 20, 2017. However, the most recent online city council minutes are those for the September 20, 2010, meeting. It should be noted that the city’s webpage has been undergoing a reorganization; perhaps more recent years’ minutes will appear when those changes are complete.

In the meantime, contact your alderman (council member) or contact the city clerk’s office for access to printed minutes in the office.